The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-08-25
The Dying World.

Ne1Us, last SUNDAY, under tne image Ol
"a tree which has its root and trunk in
the remote past and its outward ltwigs
and branches in our day; which has at
tained its growth, and whose history in
the far future must be marked by slow
decline, if indeed that decline is not al
ready in progress"
Mr.. John Burroughs, the entertaining
writer who presents to us this striking
conception, tells us of this tree, which
he calls the biologists tree of life,' p
that not only its root and trunk, but its
main branches are hidden in tbe obscu.
rity of the prehistoric ages, the record
not having been found and being proba'
bly, beyond the reach. Of discovery. 1t
was mentioned by him, however, that
some naturalists believe that life began
in the Arctic regions, and this theory is
presented to us at length, and is argued
with much plausibility, by Mr.. G. Hilton
Scribner, in little volume entitled :
atWhere did Life Begin" published by
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
It is not practicable to give full syn
opsis of Mr.. Scribner's argument within
reasonable limits in newspaper, but a
sketch of its most striking points will
show its drift, and will be found to sup
port very strongly his conclusion that life
originated at the poles and thence spread
over the globe. Starting out with the
assumption, generally conceded by stu
dents of cosmogony, that the earth was
at oheitims apsintenselyS hot: globe--in.
deed; 4 molten mass2and that in the
lapse Of time it has cooled down by
radiation to its present temperature, Mr..
scribner easily reaches the following
patent conclusions: :,toii alI !f,,,ll, ,i
First! That life commenced ION those
parts Of the earth which were first pre-
pared to maintain It; at any rate, that it
never could have commenced elsewhere.
Second. As the whole earth was at one
time too hot to maintain life, so those
parts which cooled first were probably
frst.prepared to maintain life.
Third. That those parts which received
theIeast heat from the sun, and which
radisted heat most rapidly into space, in
proportion to mass, and had the thinnest
mass to cool, cooled first.
Fourth. That those parts of the earth's
surface, and those only, answering to
these conditions, are the Arctic and Ant.
arctic zones.
Fifth. That as these zones were at one
time too hot, and certain parts thereof
are now too cold, for such life as inhabits
the warmer parts of the earth, these now
colder parts, in passing from the extreme
of heat to the extreme of cold, must have
passed slowly through temperatures e1-
actly suited to all plants and all animals
which now live, or ever lived, on the
earth. -
Sixth. IF the concurrent conditions
which have usually followed lowering
Temperature followed the climatic changes
intthis case, life did commence on the
earth within one or both of certainzones
surrounding the poles, and sufficiently
removed therefrom to receive the least
amount of sunlight necessary for vegeta-
BILE and animal life.
It is also obvious in the light of these
considerations that those parts of the
earth which frat became cool enough to
maintain life had, at that time, climate
warmer than that which we now call tor
rid, and that, when the Arctic zones
cooled from al tropical ito a temperate
climate, the now temperate zones had
cooled to, q t9rrid climate sand. the present
edhabriaa belt WAS still too hot foranY
form of life. Thus the lowering of tenn
perature, climatic change, and the animal
and vegetable life which then appeared
in the polar zones have crept thence
slowly along, "pari passu," from the
polar regions to the equator, which now
has the climate that was first found at
the poles, while the polar zone has be.
come too cold to maintain life. The idea
is thus presented in its complete form, of
life necessarily beginning near the poles,
of being. modified by slowly changing
conditions Of temperature, and as slowly
but certainly driven towards the equator
by the shifting of the warm belt, broadly
speaking, and the increasing cold behind
it. s[ ..ss
The evidences of this process Of transi.
tion are carefully stated by MI. Scribner,
in series of most interesting chapters,
but cannot be repeated here. The main
proposition is that the dispersion would
necessarily take place from the common
polar centres, and in all possible direc-
tions; that the con6guration of the con.
tinents-with their great mountain ranges
running north and southland the inter-
position of the seas, would con6ne the
direction of progress to north and south
lines; and that the known distribution
of plants and animals is in accordance
with this theory. The evidences of for
mer tropical life throughout the temper
ate zone, and within the borders of the
Arctic zone, are numerous and indisputa-
BILE. / The theories that have been ad.
varced to account for their presence,
such as the shifting of the earth's axis,
the elevation and subsistence of the
earth's crust, ocean currents and the like,
are rejected Us forced and unnecessary in
the light of the more natural and probable
which is supported by conditions and
changes with which we arc familiar and
that are still in operation.
The basis of Mr.. Scribner's whole the